Leaders have a limited amount of time to get everything done throughout the day. You walk down the hall and people stop you to ask you a quick question as you are heading to your next meeting. It can be really easy to simply give the answer to the person, but that is short term thinking. What if you could help them learn how to come up with their own answers instead?
Your goal is to create a team that can solve problems, make decisions and think for themselves. That won’t happen if you do everything for them. It will take time to teach them how to do these things, but in the long run, they will be able to do this for themselves. It will also help you be able to focus on the things that you should be doing instead.
The easiest way to help your team is to stop giving them the answers. Coach them on how to find the answers for themselves instead. Ask them questions that will allow them to come up with their own answers. Obviously, this will be a different approach and will take intention on your part to do this consistently. Set the expectation that you will not be giving the answers anymore and you want to hear their ideas instead. Just imagine how your team can grow and develop when they build these skills to lead themselves and their teams.